Anne M. Amato

Updated 6:04 pm, Friday, May 2, 2014

Adam Greelee, Jr., left, fell ill on Jan. 14 and was unresponsive while participating in gym class. Two school nurses responded and found he was in full cardiac arrest. Their response and the response of others saved Adam's life. With him are, from left, his father, Adam, Sr.; his mother, Renee and siblings Alex and Abby.
Photo: Anne M. Amato

Adam Greelee, Jr., left, fell ill on Jan. 14 and was unresponsive...

Adam Greenlee, Jr., left, fell ill on Jan. 14 and was unresponsive while participating in gym class at Bedford Middle School. Two school nurses responded and found he was in full cardiac arrest. Their response and the response of others saved Adam's life. With him are, from left, his father, Adam, Sr.; his mother, Renee and siblings Alex and Abby. A ceremony was held at the school Friday to honor staff and first responders who helped save Adam's life.
Photo: Anne M. Amato

Adam Greenlee, Jr., left, fell ill on Jan. 14 and was unresponsive...

Adam Greelee, Sr., explains what happened to his son, Adam, Jr., Jan. 14 as Yale-New Haven Children's Hospital cardiologists, from left, Dr. Robert Elder and Dr. Alan Friedman, who cared for Adam, Jr. at YNHCH, look on during a ceremonyto honor school staff and first responders Friday at Beford Middle School.
Photo: Anne M. Amato

Adam Greelee, Sr., explains what happened to his son, Adam, Jr.,...

Bedford Middle School staffers werre honored Friday for their quick action Jan. 14 that saved the life of sixth-grader Adam Greenlee. Pictured are some of the staffers honored. To the far right is School Principal Adam Rosen.
Photo: Anne M. Amato

Bedford Middle School staffers werre honored Friday for their quick...

Bedford Middle School students listen as their principal, Adam Rosen, explains what happened to their fellow classmate, Adam Greenlee, on Jan. 14. The students
Photo: Anne M. Amato

But thanks to quick action by school staffers, first responders and doctors at Yale-New Haven Children's Hospital, Adam is alive and well today, his father said during a ceremony Friday in the school auditorium.

Adam was stricken while in gym class. "He had a seizure and his head hit the floor," the father recounted. The boy's condition worsened and he was in "full cardiac arrest," he added.

The school's two nurses rushed to Adam's aid and, as a result of regular training, cardio-pulmonary resuscitation was initiated. The principal deployed the school's automated external defibrillator, a device that measures the heart's rhythms and applies jolts of electricity to restore normal function.

They applied AED shocks immediately because of the severity of Adam's condition. He regained consciousness and was stable, then rushed to Yale-New Haven Children's Hospital where he was diagnosed with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.

"They did their job," Adam Greenlee Sr. said of the nurses and first responders who administered emergency care to his son. They ensured Adam got to the "greatest doctors," those at Yale. "They saved his life -- they brought him back to life," he said.

"From our perspective what everyone did was extraordinary," Greenlee added. Within three weeks, Adam was back in school.

On Friday, Yale-New Haven Children's Hospital cardiologists, Drs. Alan Friedman and Robert Elder, who both cared for Adam at the hospital, presented the school's staff, EMTs and a Westport police officer, who was first on the scene, for the training and life-saving skills they used to save Adam's life.

"It was one in a million," said Elder about the condition that overcame Adam. "There were no warning signs." But, he added, "In the worst of circumstances there was the best of outcomes."

The elder Greenlee said his son previously had not exhibited signs of any medical problems. "The nursing staff (at Bedford) didn't know him that well because he was never sick," he said.

Adam's mother, Renee, said there is no history of heart disease in the family "We didn't think he was in a high-risk category," she said.

Principal Adam Rosen said that every member of the Bedford Middle School staff had some non-certified training with the defibrillator prior to the incident with Adam. He said the town also arranged for full CPR and AED training gratis to every staff member. "Fifteen teachers have participated," he said.

Rosen said every school in Westport has an AED and there are two at Staples High School. "We want to get a second one here," he said, noting that some schools in the state lack the life-saving device.

Friedman and Elder both spoke about a growing need for AEDs in schools. Friedman said the state should "make this a priority." The cost per unit runs about $1,500.

Young Adam is already working towards that goal, his father said. "He wants to start a foundation to get defibrillators in all schools," his father said.